You can listen to the whole program (1 hour) — hosted by Michaela Majoun and featuring YA authors Katherine Locke, Eric Smith, Lauren Saft, Tiffany Schmidt, I.W. Gregorio, and me, as well as the musical stylings of Birdie Busch — or just my bit (7 minutes). This is one of the best events I’ve participated in, and I’m grateful to Eric and LIVE producer Alli Katz for making that possible.

April 18 also marks the 75th anniversary (observed) of Superman, my favorite superhero. He first appeared in Action Comics #1, which bears the date June 1938 on its iconic cover. All these years, I’d thought that was the month the magazine was published, but that’s actually the “sell by” date–when it was supposed to be taken off the newsstands. Find out more about the history of it at Bleeding Cool.

Superman was such an important, formative part of my childhood, it’s very likely that I wouldn’t be the person I am today if he didn’t exist. Growing up without a father, I think Superman sort of became a role model for me and helped provide some of the moral guidance that I needed to become a decent human being.

I wrote about what Superman means to me in a very personal letter that originally appeared in a collection called Talking Back: Epistolary Fantasies (ed. L. Timmel Duchamp, Aqueduct Press, 2006). Writer/Editor Cat Rambo was kind enough to reprint it in Fantasy Magazine three years later, and it’s still online, so if you have a couple of minutes, please feel free to check out “Dear Superman.”

And to bring it all together, I snuck a quote from one of my favorite films, Superman: The Movie (1978), into Quantum Coin. I didn’t expect anyone to notice, but if you’re a fan of the film, see if you can spot it on pages 265-66!

My wife and I adopted a rescue dog a couple of months ago, so I’ve been taking two or three extra walks a day, which have turned out to be perfect for listening to podcasts of This American Life. I love the radio program, but I didn’t always have time for it because I tend to prefer reading during my commute, and there are books, movies, and video games competing for my free time at home. Still, the Android app for the show was my first paid download when I got a Droid phone, and now I’m actually getting a lot more use out of it.

Anyway, I was astonished the other day when I heard the January 11, 2013 episode, “Doppelgängers.” As you might be aware, a doppelgänger is an identical twin, what Wikipedia defines as “a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune.” The German word literally translates as “double goer.” Doppelgängers are staples of parallel universe and time travel stories, but it seems they appear in pretty much every genre, whether in a purely symbolic representation in literary fiction or something more sinister in horror. As fascinating as it might be to encounter someone who looks just like you, who might have led a life different from your own, the possibility of being replaced by your duplicate–cloned or dimensional or whatever–is terrifying.

The episode of This American Life is much more grounded in reality, but some of the implications raised by its stories are no less horrific. The hour-long program is often startling, humorous, sobering and profound, presenting two pieces that celebrate the redemptive power of pork bung and compare and contrast life in Philadelphia with the war in Afghanistan. Check it out:

I really enjoyed this one. We talked a bit about books and writing, of course, but we also covered a range of topics from Back to the Future to Quantum Leap, two topics I can discuss for hours. Barry even slipped in a reference to the classic SF film Short Circuit! Given that the format for the program is “a chat over a cup of tea,” you might be wondering what my beverage of choice was throughout the half-hour interview.

It’s obvious, really. I was, in fact, sipping Earl Grey.

Please give the program a listen and leave some feedback. It’s short, it’s entertaining, and perhaps even enlightening. Many thanks to Barry for the great conversation!

While you’re at it, you can also check out interviews with my fellow Apocalypsies, Sarvenaz Tash (The Mapmaker and the Ghost, due out this Tuesday, 4/24!), J. Anderson Coats (The Wicked and the Just, just released!), and Lynne Kelly (Chained, due out 5/8/12).